Second Chance
by Valor Grim
Summary: After an extremely near death experience, Naruto meets a strange man who tells him he has a second chance at living. But, the consequences are great indeed...
1. Chapter 1

_Thought_

**Kyuubi/Inner Sakura**

I don't own Naruto. But, I** do** own Valor Grim.

Enjoy.

**Second Chance**

**Chapter 1: And so it begins…**

Flipping in mid-air, Naruto dodged the deadly projectiles thrown at him from his best friend. "I am taking you back! I won't let you get away this time!" Naruto yelled as he landed and drew his own kunai, charging at Sasuke.

"Keep telling yourself that. You are not strong enough to accomplish it, so give it up!" Sasuke yelled. He quickly went through a few seals and punched the rock wall beside him. " Earth style: Mountain Snake!" The rock wall he punched came alive and turned into a giant granite snake. It charged Naruto and slammed him into the opposite wall, stuck between the fangs and the wall. His arms were to either side of the snake's fangs, therefore he was unable to perform any jutsu. "I have had enough of your blabbering about bringing me back. You and your village have nothing to offer me in my quest for strength. I had hoped you would have realized that by now, but it seems you never will. Until someone comes and gets you, I will leave you here for the time being." Sasuke walked up to Naruto. "Don't come after me again. I can only let you live so many times before I am forced to kill you. Bonds may make you weak, but a rival makes you strong. This is thanks for your help when I was weak. However, after this, we are even."

"I will bring you back, broken and bloody if necessary. I promised Sakura that and I will keep it. We will meet again, and I will bring you back. Get used to the idea!" Naruto said.

Before any more words could be exchanged, Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Dang. I failed…again. No matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I train, I am still not powerful enough. I couldn't keep my promise to Sakura-chan either." Naruto lamented. Slipping into unconsciousness shortly after.

After a while, Kakashi and Sakura came into view to find an unconscious Naruto pinned to a wall with a giant snake statue holding him there. "Naruto!" Sakura ran over to her teammate. She checked his vital signs only to determine that he didn't look too good. "We have to get him to Konoha quickly. His heart is slowly being pierced by a rock fragment. If we don't hurry, he will die." Sakura told Kakashi.

"Then I guess it is a retreat for now. Let's hurry!" Kakashi drew his chakra into his hand and shouted "Chidori!" effectively shattering the rock serpent pinning Naruto to the wall. "Let's go."

Sakura lifted Naruto piggy-back style and ran as fast as she could, following Kakashi. "Don't you dare die on me, Naruto!" Sakura whispered to the unconscious boy on her back.

Meanwhile…

_What? Where am I? _Looking around, Naruto saw nothing but darkness. He was the only thing surrounded by light. _What's going on?_ Naruto took another quick look around, but still didn't spot anything. An ominous voice from behind made him quickly turn around to face the new threat. Drawing a kunai, he got into a defensive stance.

"It seems that I have a visitor. I wonder why you showed up here of all places. Greetings, my young visitor. My name is Valor Grim. May I inquire as to whom I am speaking to?" the man asked.

Finally calmed down enough to take in the situation properly, Naruto looked at the man standing before him. He wore black trench coat and pants. He had long, black hair in the form of a ponytail reaching to his waist. And two katana, one on his left hip and the other on his back leaning over his right shoulder. But the most peculiar thing about him was that he wore a black blindfold. "Uh, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. How did I get here?" Naruto asked, temporarily dropping his defensive posture.

"How indeed? I am as perplexed as you. Technically, you should not be here at all. Yet, here you stand, and alive at that. You truly are a remarkable person. Although, I would hazard to guess that it is Kyuubi that is keeping you from succumbing to the abyss." Valor said.

"How do you know about the Kyuubi? And what do you mean about succumbing to the abyss and staying alive?" Naruto said.

"Ah, all will be revealed in due time, my young friend, all in due time. For now, let us just say that I was an old acquaintance of your prisoner. Now, to answer your other question, you are in the land of the dead, though not totally. You see, your spirit is still very much defiant to dying and has a strong enough will to live much longer than your body. You were killed by a rock fragment that went into your heart soon after your fight with your friend, however you literally refused to die and willed yourself to continue living. Quite a feat, actually. As to why you showed up here in my personal quarters, I have no clue." Valor said calmly.

"Wait, if I am dead, then what does that make you? A spirit?" Naruto asked.

"Technically, you are correct. But I am what you would call the caretaker of lost souls. My job is to make sure souls reach their intended destination after their bodies die. You are one of those souls, but since you have such a fierce will to live, I cannot touch you until it is your _real_ time to die." Valor answered.

"Real time to die? What do you mean? I wasn't supposed to die in that battle?" Naruto was starting to put it together.

"Precisely. You are an _extremely_ rare case in terms of where you go. You are meant to die, just like all humans, but the only difference is, you have inadvertently linked your life with another's so that you could continue to live. In other words, although your will is very strong, it is not strong enough to ward off death for long. So, I believe that Kyuubi linked your soul with someone else's in order to survive longer. Do you understand so far?" Valor explained.

"I think so, you are saying that Kyuubi fused my soul with someone else's to continue living even though my body is trashed?" Naruto said hesitantly.

"Yes and no. Yes, you can revert back to your body after it is healed, but no, your soul was linked, not fused with someone else's. If they die, you go with them. If you die, they go with you. It is dangerous and very tricky to do. It takes agreement on both candidate's part or it will not work. However, seeing as the Kyuubi is technically a part of you, you have already agreed. The other person would have to also. You will have to see who it was after you wake back up." Valor said.

"How will I know?" Naruto asked.

"Your souls are linked. You will know. Although, there are a few side effects, but you will find those out later." Soon after Valor said this, Naruto began to glow. "Oh, and Naruto. Expect to see me again. I have to discuss some other things with you." Valor finished.

Naruto's vision went white and the first thing he noticed was pain. His chest hurt so bad! He opened his eyes and saw a ceiling. _Crap! I'm in the hospital. Again! I hate hospitals!_ He looked to his left and saw a bundle of pink hair lying on his bed. _Sakura!? What is she doing here?_ Then, as if on cue, Sakura noticed that her teammate was awake. She raised her head and saw him looking at her. "Naruto! Your awake!" she yelled. She then hugged her teammate in glee, having nothing better to do with his arms, Naruto slipped them around her waist, in a daze. "We thought you weren't going to make it!" She started to cry in his arms.

"I'm not going anywhere. I can't keep my promise if I am dead, can I?" Naruto joked.

"BAKA!! Don't you DARE do this again! We are supposed to get Sasuke back together! Next time, don't run off and leave me and Kakashi in the dust! Or I will be the one putting you in the hospital instead!" Sakura said. Amazingly, her mood had went from crying and worrying to heated rage in a matter of seconds. Although not much of an improvement, it was an improvement nonetheless. Then she noticed that she was still hugging Naruto throughout the entirety of her tirade. Instantly, she pulled her hands out from around him and hit him on the head for good measure. "And that's so you will remember it!"

"Ok, I got you Sakura. Next time, it will be me and you. Then we will both bring Sasuke back with us!" Naruto said as he slipped into his trademark smile. Soon, the room began to spin and he fell heavily back onto the mattress. "But first, I need to get some sleep!"

**Kit, you alright?**

_Yeah, just a bit confused. Was that all a dream or what?_

**No. It wasn't although I was not able to follow you into the underworld, I could definitely feel you down there. Now, what happened?**

_What would you care? All you want to do is get out of me._

**Although that is true. I am unable to leave your body anymore. While you were in the underworld, my cage was released and I almost got out. Until some annoying wall shut off my only escape out of your body. I am forever trapped within you and there is no way for me to get out.**

_Whoa, whoa, whoa. What about the seal? Wasn't it supposed to keep you in check?_

**Yes, but with your soul already in the underworld, it dispelled itself. Look on the bright side, you no longer have a seal on your stomach.**

_What about your chakra being released into my body. If that wall kept you from getting out, then how did this wall stop you, yet still give me access to your chakra?_

**Instead of linking my chakra through the seal to help you, now it is linked through our minds. We have to 'sync' with each other's minds or we won't be able to use my chakra at all. While you were unconscious, I had free control of all my chakra to do with as I pleased. If your soul had really given up and stayed in the underworld, I would still be pulled under with you, so I had to use it to make sure you didn't stay there. I linked your soul with the nearest capable person.**

_Ok, who was the unlucky person that agreed to that?_

**I didn't tell you that they had to agree. How did you know?**

_I had a talk with someone down there. Continue._

**Like I was saying, I linked it with the nearest capable person. I had a talk with their sub conscience and they agreed to link your souls.**

_You still haven't told me who it is yet._

**I won't. It was part of the deal. I have to keep quiet about it and you have to figure it out on your own. Now, tell me what happened in the underworld.**

_Well, I met an old acquaintance of yours…_

**Chapter 2: Consequences…**

After a while, Naruto woke up. Unfortunately, when he opened his eyes, he realized that it was nighttime. As he sat up, he looked around the room to see if anyone was around. There was nothing but a regular hospital room. All the lights were out and the only source of light was coming in from a window to his right. Strangely enough, the light was centered on an empty chair beside his bed. After the grogginess left Naruto, a very dull pain in his head notified him of hours upon hours of talking with the Kyuubi. They had never spoken that much before and it was slightly unnerving seeing the sudden change in the Kyuubi's actions. It was not like the fox to suddenly give up and just help the kid whenever he wanted. Naruto was broken from his reverie when he noticed how cold the room had suddenly gotten. "What the?" he looks around and sees Valor sitting in the chair on the right of his bed with his right leg crossed over his left one and his elbows on the armrests, supporting his hands which only touched the fingertips of each other. "What are you doing here? I thought you were the 'caretaker' of those dead guys!" Naruto blurted.

"Unless you want more company, I suggest you keep your voice down. I am here to talk with you. Now, I want you to listen and do not speak until I am finished. Understood?" Valor waited for Naruto to nod before continuing. "Good. Now, I am here because of the condition you are in right now. Let me first say that when someone travels into the underworld, they are changed. On the very rare case that someone leaves the underworld, they come back with a bit of it still attached to their soul. When you came down for your 'visit' you were also infected with the taint of the underworld. However, since you came back, you have carried a bit of the underworld with you. It had attached some of its taint to your soul and grew as it adjusted to your chakra coils. Now, I know for a fact that you have two different systems, however since that 'taint' has adapted to your chakra coils, it has done something that I have never seen or heard of before. Let me explain, usually in the off chance that someone escapes the underworld alive, then the taint slowly drains their life energy and kills them eventually. However, since you have a demon inside of you, who draws his power from the underworld, it adapted to that instead of your own chakra signature. This is very dangerous to any and all around you. As you know, when you use the Kyuubi's chakra, you risk losing control and hurting someone. Now, with the taint adapted to Kyuubi's chakra, you emit an aura that is very dangerous. This is only a guess, but I believe that since the chakra is coated in the 'essence' of the underworld itself, it could be fatal to those who came into contact with it. But the worse side effect is the fact that I discovered when I came into your room. You seem to emit the aura when close to another being from the underworld, excluding the Kyuubi of course, and it resonates with them. Do you understand so far?" Valor asked.

"You lost me when you started talking about chakra coils. Kyuubi understands, though. When we started talking, he shut up real quick and hasn't moved for a while. I think he is scared to talk… weird." Naruto replied.

"Then I will let him fill you in when I leave. Now, the effects don't stop there. When I said 'resonate' I meant that it weakens certain seals placed on the creatures from the underworld. For instance, I was unable to draw my katana because it is sealed by the underworld and is impossible to unsheathe up here, yet I am able to freely draw it around you. I am sure Kyuubi understands how dangerous that is." Valor seemed to look directly into the eyes of the Kyuubi and through Naruto, even though he wore a blindfold.

"What do you mean weaken seals on creatures of the underworld? I thought demons and spirits all stayed down there. And all the demons are either sealed in people like me, or down there." Naruto started to get a little frightened because the Kyuubi was actually scared now. He was trembling. Naruto looked at Valor to see if he would explain why Kyuubi was so terrified, only to notice how serious he was. Not a muscle moved on the man, but he had a commanding presence that made Naruto feel like he did when he was dealing with a life or death situation here.

"You are partially correct. Demons and spirits do live in the underworld and some of the demons are sealed in jinchuuriki. However, most demons in this world are not sealed within people, but rather objects. You could release a demon in a pot just by walking by it. The same holds true with the Jinchuuriki. If you come into contact with them, you could inadvertently release their demons as well. Now do you understand the weight of the situation?" Valor patiently waited for the boy to gather up his mouth from off the ground and talk to him.

"You are saying that I'm a walking disaster? I could destroy Konoha by accident just by being around some possessed pot? What am I going to do? I could hurt Sakura again! I could kill everyone and not mean to. I cou-" Naruto was cut off by Valor who got up from his chair.

"That is why I am here. I will make sure you are held in check for the time being. I will be close by when something happens, but until I can think of something to solve the problem, I will stay close. I will not, however, interfere with your personal life. Now, to keep true to my word, I must leave you for now. Someone is here to see you." Valor started to walk towards the window, but paused and said "Naruto, I think it would be best if you did not tell anyone about me just yet. It may interfere with a few things." And with that, he disappeared from sight, stepping on the window sill and dropping out of it.

As soon as he left, the door opened quietly and Sakura walked in the door. "Sorry, did I wake you?" She shut the door behind her and moved over to the chair where Valor was just sitting. She sat down and crossed her arms as if she were cold.

"No, I was already awake. What are you doing here? Did you forget something?" _Oh man! Sakura is in here. What do I say?_

"No, I just couldn't sleep and I wanted to come check on you." _Good, he's ok. Someone took me home and I wasn't able to check on him._"After all you just barely survived your last fight. What happened? One minute you were with us, the next you were gone, and then we find you near death with a rock shoved in your chest! What were you thinking going off alone?"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. I saw him run off in a different direction than where we were heading and chased after him. I meant to signal you guys when I caught up with him, but I guess I got caught up in the heat of the moment." Naruto lowered his head in shame. "I shouldn't have left you guys, but I wanted to bring him back so bad. I am sorry Sakura-chan. I failed again. I promise that I will bring him back, but I wasn't able to this time."

"Baka! I said we would do it together! That's why you couldn't bring him back! You didn't have me there to help! Now, what happened when you caught up with him?"

**Flashback**

Naruto finally cornered Sasuke in a cave when he finally turned around to face him. "Well, I have to give it to you, dobe, you haven't lost your tenacity." Sasuke put his hands on his hips and quickly scanned the area looking for anything in his advantage. The cave wasn't very large, but its floor was completely covered in water. _Good. Lightning techniques should work well in here._ "But that was also one of your greatest flaws. You never knew when to give up!"

"Don't talk about flaws, teme! You have no room to talk!" Naruto made a shadow clone and quickly started forming a rasengan. "You are coming with me! Even if I have to drag you back!" With this, he charged Sasuke with the rasengan at his side.

"You are still predictable too!" Sasuke said as he drew his blade. Sasuke jumped back and almost hit the cave wall. Making sure he was out of the water, Sasuke ran chidori through his blade and touched the water that Naruto was running in. The entire cave lit up with a blue incandescent light and bolts of lightning filled the air as the water amplified the attack tenfold.

"AAAHHH!" Naruto screamed in pain and jumped out of the water. Using his chakra to cling to the ceiling with his feet, Naruto tried to regain feeling back into his limbs. The shock had totally numbed his legs. _Gotta think. I can't just rush in any more. Maybe a sneak attack? No, his back is too close to the wall. Got it!_

Naruto jumped off the wall and threw a kunai with an explosive tag on it directly at Sasuke. Out of pure instinct, Sasuke dodged the kunai and kept his red eyes on Naruto. _Kunai are mainly used as either a diversion, or ranged attacks. His real attack is coming. As soon as he moves, I will take him out._ He had disregarded the explosive tag on it because it was too dark to see. Little did either of them know, but the entire cave was laced with mercury, so when the tag eventually exploded, not only did it send Sasuke shooting out of the entrance of the cave, but it also blew the top half of the cave. Naruto got lucky and was behind a rock when the explosion happened and therefore didn't get the brunt of the attack, but it was still enough to send him flying up in the air several hundred feet.

Sasuke wasn't so lucky. The explosion had temporarily destroyed his back and he was slumped against a rock wall. _Crap! That explosion told Kakashi and Sakura where we are. I better end this quick._ Thought Sasuke. He slowly stood up to his full height and grabbed a few shuriken from his waistband.

When Naruto landed, he was able to get up fairly fast and was able to jump in the air to land a punch on Sasuke. Unfortunately, his friend threw a swarm of shuriken at him and he had to flip in the air to avoid being stabbed. "I am taking you back! I won't let you get away this time!"

**Flashback End**

"and that is when he punched the wall and sent that snake at me." Naruto finished telling her.

Sakura was close to laughing her butt off if the situation wasn't so serious. _He blew up and entire cave with an exploding kunai!? How messed up is that?_ "That would explain the burnt spots on your jacket and pants… But still, how was Sasuke able to walk after that? According you your story, that blast would have been enough to kill him! How did he not die?" Sakura was perplexed. _Did Sasuke achieve immortality or something? Was it maybe a new technique that Orochimaru taught him? I am just glad that Naruto is safe. I thought we lost him there for a moment. There wasn't a heartbeat, but his body stayed warm. I can't stand the thought of losing him. I don't want to be alone._ "Well, now you are back here. But you need your rest, so I will leave you to get some sleep." Sakura walked to the door and said over her shoulder "I will be back tomorrow to see how you are doing."

When she grabbed the doorknob, she yelped in pain and let go of it quickly. "Sakura-chan! Are you ok?" Naruto leaped from his bed and caught Sakura before she fell on the floor. Unfortunately, he didn't really have good footing, so he fell behind her. "Thanks, Naruto. HEY! GET BACK IN BED!" Sakura said quickly. She had noticed that she landed directly on his lap when they fell and wanted to get out of the awkward position as soon as possible.

"Ok, but you are going to have to get off me first." Naruto cherished the feeling of her so close to him and every second he could buy by hesitating, he would. "What happened?"

"I don't know, let me check." Sakura went back to the door and looked at it closely. There were seals placed on the other side of the door to keep people from leaving the room. _Uh-oh… please tell me this isn't real!_ Sakura rushed to the window, only to find the same seals on it as well. _Whoever did this is sooo dead!_ Sakura then turned to Naruto and told him "I can't leave."

"What!? Why not? Err… not that I don't mind or anything, but how come you can't leave?" Naruto was thanking every God that he knew and every one he didn't. _Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!_

"Someone sealed this entire room and we can't leave until someone lets us out." Sakura got an idea and walked over to one of the cabinets across from Naruto. "Ah! Here we are!" she pulled out some extra sheets and laid them down on the floor.

Before she could lay down on them, however, Naruto had beat her to the punch and laid down on it first. "You take the bed, Sakura-chan! It was too soft for me anyway! If you have to stay here, then at least take the bed!" _Well, I guess I can't get everything you wish for, but this is good enough!_

"Baka! You are injured! You need to take the bed!" Sakura was close to hitting him again when he said. "Sakura-chan, do you not remember? I have the Kyuubi in me! I heal extremely fast! I am already ready to go! So don't worry about me!" Naruto said with a sort of finality. "Good night Sakura-chan!" With that, Naruto laid his head on the floor and pretended to fall asleep.

"God! You are sooo annoying at times!" Sakura whispered and then climbed into the bed. "But I guess that is what I like about you…" she barely whispered as she slowly succumbed to sleep.

_Did…did…did Sakura just say that!? _*mental process currently stopped* In a daze, Naruto couldn't even dream of falling asleep, so instead, he rolled over and watched his pink haired princess sleep. _I must have been hearing things. She still has a thing for Sasuke…right?_

**Chapter 3: When Crap Hits the Fan**

The next morning, Naruto woke up with another headache. _This better not be an everyday thing. Besides, Kyuubi didn't have to yell at me! I thought he was on better terms with me now… Ever since we talked with Valor last night, he has been in a real crappy mood. I'll find out why later._

Naruto looked around and found that Sakura was still asleep on the bed, but her covers where thrown on the floor next to him. _I better fix that or she will cold._

He got up and picked up the blanket when the memories of what happened last night hit him like a ton of bricks. Naruto trembled with the blanket in his arms, thinking about what she said night before she fell asleep. _I must have been dreaming it. There is no way that she would have said that. She still likes Sasuke._

As Naruto tried to reassure himself that what he heard was just wishful thinking, Sakura shivered at the cold. _Oh! Right! Covers!_ Naruto started to walk with the covers in hand when it happened.

The white hospital covers were dragging the ground as they moved toward their intended target. Unfortunately for Naruto, he stepped on them and promptly fell forward only to land on top of his pink haired princess… _AAAAhhhh!!! This can't be happening! _Naruto tried to push himself off of her as quickly as he could, but he wasn't fast enough.

Sakura woke up to a sudden pressure on her stomach. As she opened her eyes, she acted on pure ninja instinct and punched the thing that was laying atop her. _What was that?_ As she looked in the direction of where the thing had flew off to, she saw Naruto being electrocuted by the seals on the window. _What the!? Naruto was laying on top of me!? OH! He's dead!_ Sakura got up and cracked her knuckles as she walked towards the now semi-conscious Naruto.

"NARUTOOO!!!" Sakura screamed as she pounded poor Naruto into the ground for being perverted. "I can't believe you would stoop that low! I thought better of you! How could you?" Sakura said between punches. _I can't believe that I was actually starting to look at him differently! He is nothing but a pervert!_

**But he's a cute pervert! And besides, he wasn't touching anything inappropriate! **

_When did you come back? I thought I got rid of you through Shishou's training! What are you doing back?_

**You didn't get rid of me. I was always here. You were just doing what I wanted, so I didn't feel the need to talk to you. Now quit punching the poor boy. You're gonna kill him.**

Sakura looked down to see a beaten and bloody Naruto who's only indication of consciousness was his twitching figure. "Serves you right!" Sakura got up and walked to the wall next to the door. _If the door is sealed, then maybe the wall isn't…_

Sakura pulled back her fist, getting ready to kill the wall when she heard, "Seals!? Who put the seals here?"

"Shishou!" Sakura quit what she was doing and walked over to the door to see Tsunade through the glass on the other side of the door. "Get me out of here!"

"Sakura!? What are you doing in Naruto's room? I thought I had someone carry you home." Tsunade said as she removed the seals to the room and opened the door. Upon surveying the room, she noticed Naruto in a crater, twitching like he was dead. "You didn't kill him, I hope?"

"No. But he deserved it! I am going home! Tell that baka that I don't want to see him right now." Sakura left the hospital with a killing intent that frightened off even the most veteran of ninja. _I can't believe Naruto!_

**Back with Naruto**

"For the last time, granny, I didn't do anything perverted to Sakura! It was a misunderstanding! I got the covers off the floor and was putting them on her when I tripped on the covers and landed on her. I have to go explain it to her now. Bye!" Naruto jumped out the window and into the streets of Konoha. (the window seals had disappeared after the ones on the door were took off.)

_Stupid kid, if he talks to her in the mood she's in now…_ "Shizune! Get this room cleaned and ready for Naruto again! I have a feeling we will be seeing him again shortly." Tsunade called out.

Naruto started walking towards Sakura's apartment after he left the hospital. _Dang it, Sakura! You didn't even give me a chance to explain!_ Naruto _shivered_ at what was probably going to happen when he got to Sakura's. _Maybe I should wait for her to cool down…_

Naruto rounded a corner and was met with the sight of Valor on the other side. Before he could get a word out, Valor punched him in the gut and then hit him in the back of the neck in quick succession. "Alright, fox. You and I need to have a little talk." Valor then carried the boy into his apartment and sat him on the couch.

After pulling up a chair, Valor seated himself across from the unconscious boy. "I know you can talk, fox. Now that you don't have that seal there to hinder you, you can talk to anyone while the boy is unconscious."

**Why would I talk to you? Last I checked, you didn't associate with me anymore.**

"Leave the past in the past. I didn't agree with your decision to come up here, and now you are paying for it. Now, are you going to listen to me, or sulk in your cage?"

**What do you want?**

"I have a proposition for you. As you know, Naruto is a danger to the living world right now. Since I cannot end the threat alone, I wanted your assistance eliminating it."

**You want to kill the boy? Sure! Go for it! As soon as he is really dead, I can get out of here! **

"I didn't say that I needed help killing the boy, did I? No. I need your cooperation to fix things in this world that should have never been a problem to begin with. You know what the boy can do better than anyone else. I need that. I need the boy to go beyond what is possible and achieve the impossible. I want you to tell me everything you know about the boy, both inside and out. Don't leave out any details, no matter how trivial they could be."

**And why should I? What is in it for me? Besides, why do you need to know everything? I thought you already did!**

"You want out of that boy, right? I will help you, but only after you help me complete the mission. After that, I lift the wall that I put there to keep you from getting out. After that, you are free to do as you please. I won't interfere in anything you choose to do."

**What's the catch? I never knew you to make deals that seem to be so one-sided. I am sure there is something else you want me to do. What is it?**

"Still as clever as ever, I see. Let me start by saying that there is a certain balance between the Underworld and this world. They are clearly divided and should equal each other in life and death. The living cannot pass through to the Underworld, and the dead cannot pass through to this world. However, my father decided to change that rule when he let you demons cross the boundary. The fool actually thought that he could upset the balance and rule both worlds by sending an extraordinary amount of souls to the Underworld. He didn't expect the repercussions of his actions until they started to occur."

**The Life Spike event?**

"That's right. Certain individuals were born immortal into the mortal realm. The only way to kill them is to create balance between the two worlds again."

**Wait, so you want us demons to come back to the Underworld? According to your deal, I wouldn't be in the Underworld after I am released. Wouldn't that kind of be an obstacle to the mission?**

"Yes and no. You see, there are close to twenty demons in this world, yourself included. If I were to take nineteen of them back to the underworld, then that would only leave you. Coincidentally, there are roughly twenty immortals in this realm as well. I would rather have one immortal and one demon in this realm than twenty demons and twenty immortals."

**So what do you want me to do about it? Yeah, I am powerful in the terms of tailed demons, but what about the greater demons that exist here? Even I don't have enough power to take them down. How can I get rid of demons even more powerful than me? Plus, I am inside this piece of crap body and can't release my full potential. If he died, then I would go with him, since you won't remove the wall until my job is done.**

"Well, you are going to have a little help. Don't rule out the kid just yet. He has a lot of potential and after I am through with him, you should be able to be at or above your original power before you were sealed."

**Wait a minute. What do you mean after you are done with him? What are you planning?**

"I can't tell you everything. Now, I need to know if you will assist me in the mission?"

**I will think about it. Do you know the locations of the Demons?**

"All but one, and only because he surrounds himself with so much live, that I cannot pick up on his signature. I will find him before I leave, though. I will give you two days to answer. Choose wisely. And everything we talked about does not get mentioned to anyone. Not even the boy. I was kind enough to give you free reign of the boy's body, but I can constrict you in ways the fourth had never thought of. Now, I will be back in a couple of days. Try to keep the boy alive until then."

With that, Valor got up and walked out the door. **Stupid, uppity, egotistical, bastard! Just because he is ****his**** son, he has to be soo cocky! Now I remember why I left the Underworld in the first place! Bastard!**

_Ughh… Where am I?_ Naruto was starting to come to. He looked around and saw that he was in his apartment. _Huh? How did I get in here? Last thing I remember was … Dang it, Valor! I hate you!_

Naruto got up from his couch and started to walk over to Sakura's to apologize. _I already got the crap beat out of me, and I might as well get this over with too. Plus, I hat e seeing Sakura like this. _Naruto made his way across town when he spotted Tsunade in front of Sakura's apartment complex. _Crap! Now I can't go in there! I might have survived Sakura's beating, but not Sakura and Granny both! _*sigh* "Guess I'll wait till tomorrow."

"What are you gonna do tomorrow?" said a voice behind him.

"WAAA!" Naruto jumped in the air, scared out of his wits. "Kakashi! Don't do that!"

"Sorry, couldn't resist. What's up?"

"What do you want? You don't usually do this unless you want something."

"Aha…aha…ahem. Well, I was wondering if you heard anything about Jiraya here lately?"

"Why? Did the pervy sage get into too much trouble again?"

"No, I just thought he would tell you if he wrote the next book of Icha Icha paradise yet!"

Naruto's eyebrows twitched and anger clouded his face. "How would I know something like that? I don't read his perverted books! I would burn em' all if I could!"

Kakashi's one eye got really wide. "Blasphemy!!! You shall be punished for your insult to the best series on earth! Thousand years of pain!!" Kakashi instantly appeared behind Naruto and executed his 'ultimate jutsu', sending him flying off into the woods.

**To Sakura**

*knock knock* "Hold on a minute!" _It better not be Naruto!_ Sakura walked to her apartment door and opened it to see her master there. "Shishou! Come in, come in! What is it?"

"To be honest, I came to make sure Naruto didn't die. He said something about coming here to clear something up." Tsunade said as she looked around. She didn't see any pools of blood or craters in the floor. "Looks like he didn't show up."

"No, he didn't. I'd have beat the crap out of him otherwise! He is such a pervert!" Sakura's rage was building up and she clenched her teeth and tightened her fists.

"Oh, stop it! You know he didn't do anything! I know that you know him better than that! He told me that it was nothing but a misunderstanding! And you know it. Now, do you want to continue to act like a child and sulk some more?" Tsunade was starting to get a bit peeved at this point. Sakura could feel the change in the air.

"Sorry, Shishou. I want to know what really happened. Please tell me." Sakura figured the best way to avoid one hell of a punch was to act as polite as she could.

"Alright, that's more like it! Get me some sake and we'll discuss it while we drink!"

One thing that you should have at all times when talking with Tsunade, and that was sake. It didn't matter if she wasn't old enough to drink it, she had it just to keep on her master's good side. "Alright, let's go to the living room. The door isn't exactly the best place to talk." Sakura left to get the sake out of the kitchen while Tsunade went to the couch in the living room.

"Sorry Shishou, but I only have one bottle, you will have to drink it by yourself. I will still listen, though." Sakura purposefully kept only enough for Tsunade so that she doesn't do something stupid.

"That's fine. Now, where to begin…" After a while, Tsunade filled Sakura in on the events that Naruto told her while he was being healed by her. "And that is what Naruto said really happened. Have to admit, it fits Naruto's usual behavior." Tsunade finished while looking at her empty sake bottle.

"Yeah, I guess I was a little too harsh on him. I don't know what it is, Shishou. I can't help thinking about him. I try to get him out of my head, but it is like I can hear him. I know he isn't around, but I still hear him. I think I'm going crazy!"

"Hahaha! Sounds like someone is in love!"

"Shishou! I am not in love with Naruto! This has only started happening after I brought him back from his fight with Sasuke. I don't understand. I can feel when he is sad, and happy. I don't understand why. I love Sasuke, but this is so confusing, I just don't know anymore…" Sakura was close to tears right now.

Tsunade looked at her pupil and sighed. "Look, you need to talk with Naruto. That is the only way that you are going to solve anything. I don't know what you mean by how you can 'feel' what he is feeling, but hey! Love works in mysterious ways. It happens when you least expect it and it happens in different ways. Just talk to him and work it out. I don't want to have to listen to him whine and complain about how he is mistreated by you. Just fix it." Tsunade got up and walked to the door. "I will see you in the morning. Hospital needs you back soon." Afterwards, she staggered back to the hokage's tower.

"I will. I can't take this crap anymore."

"Sounds like you are having trouble." A voice said behind her.

Sakura quickly turned around to see a man dressed all in black and wearing a blindfold sitting on her couch. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" She said as she cracked her knuckles.

"Relax. I am not here to fight, just to talk. My name is Valor Grim. It is a pleasure to meet you." While introducing himself, Valor stood and bowed.

Sakura was taken aback by such a formal tone. This guy was dangerous. "Still, trespassing is a crime! You shouldn't be here!"

"So you don't want to understand why you are able to feel things about Naruto?"

_How did he know about that? I only just told Tsunade! He was eavesdropping!? OH! He is so dead!_ "You shouldn't have come here! I am in a really bad mood and you just made it worse. You don't eavesdrop in someone else's conversation!" Sakura pulled her fist back to kill the guy, but he was gone. "What the?"

"You know, you should at least learn to hear the full story before you start making decisions. You didn't with Naruto, and look what happened." Valor said, sitting at the kitchen table.

_What the? How did he-? From the couch to the-? Huh?_ "Alright, spill. But I'm warning you! One funny move, and you are dead!" She moved across to the kitchen and sat opposite of her visitor.

"First off, let me apologize for this intrusion. But please understand that I came here to tell you something very important that concerns you and Naruto. Now, you want to know why you are able to feel what Naruto is feeling just by thinking of him, correct?"

Sakura slowly nods her head, but remains silent. "Alright. You also know that Naruto technically died when he was fighting the Uchiha boy?" Again, another nod from Sakura. She was starting to break out in a cold sweat just thinking about the incident. Her heartbeat went up a couple of notches just remembering the shape Naruto was in when she picked him up.

"Good, that saves a lot of explaining. Now, I imagine you know how the boy feels about you, so I won't go into detail about that. Needless to say, you are one of the main reasons he was able to come back from beyond the world of the living. You and him are linked…"


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto landed on top of the Hokage Mountain just above the Yondaime's head. "Ow! Stupid Kakashi! Just wait, I will get you back for that!" Naruto got up to leave and go home, but he had trouble standing up. "Geez, it's been so long since he successfully used that technique on me that I had forgotten how painful it is."

So, he sat back down and waited for Kyuubi to heal his somewhat embarrassing wound. "Wow, it has been a long time since I've been up here. I need to come more often. I wonder if Sakura would like it up here as well?" Naruto looked around and saw the trees surrounding the area adding a bit of color to the mountain. But the best sight was when he looked down and saw the village of Konoha. It glowed in the night like a beacon to those that needed to find their way. "I just wish Sasuke was here to see this." Naruto's mood took a nose dive after that.

"Dammit! Why'd he have to leave? Didn't he know how it would make Sakura feel? Bastard." Naruto punched the ground in frustration when he felt something weird in the air. Not really stinky or anything, more like a presence. It reminded him too much of the Kyuubi.

**Shit! Kit, RUN!!!** The Kyuubi was frantic and it shocked Naruto into action. Whatever it was, it scared the Kyuubi, and he don't scare easy.

"What the heck? What did I do?" Naruto looked at the ground and noticed it starting to take on a red hue.

**Dammit, Kit! I said RUN!!! Get your ass moving!** The Kyuubi sent a painful amount of chakra into Naruto's legs and made him react.

"Alright already! What the heck is going on?" Naruto jumped off and landed on the Hokage's tower. As he turned around, he noticed that the eyes of the five hokage were all glowing bright red. "What the!?"

An explosion erupted from the mountain, jarring Naruto to the ground and breaking his train of thought. Earthquake after earthquake followed the tremendous explosion. Rocks and debris was falling down all over Konoha, smoke filled the area above the mountain.

"Naruto? What's happening here?" Tsunade asked as she came up to the top of her tower to check everything out. Anbu and jounin were starting to show up all over the place now.

Naruto looked over at Tsunade, who was quickly making her way to him and said "The heck if I know! I was just sitting up there looking at Konoha when it all started to happen!" Naruto got a good whiff of sake on her and just about hurled.

Before Tsunade could reply, the smoke suddenly cleared and there was a red swirling ball of chakra floating in the air above the mountain. "Woah! That has got to be the biggest rasengan I have ever seen!" Naruto said.

"It is not a rasengan. Naruto, tell me exactly what happened. Leave out no detail, no matter how minute it may be." Naruto turned to see Valor standing not two feet behind him.

"Then what is it?"

"We don't have time for this, tell me what happened and then I will let you know. Hurry!" Naruto began to describe all that transpired up at the mountain when he was stopped when he got to the part when he hit the ground. "Shit. This isn't good." Valor looked directly at Naruto and said "I am guessing that your answer is yes?"The Kyuubi nodded reluctantly inside Naruto .

"What the hell? Who are you?" Tsunade was just now noticing Valor after giving orders to the Anbu and jounin to evacuate the people close to the mountain. "What are you doing here? Did you have something to do with this?"

Valor turned to the hokage, "This is no time for introductions, for now, I am a friend. I know what is going on, but I need your cooperation to stop it. Have your shinobi gather between the mountain and Konoha. There will be massive resistance in a few moments and we need to buy as much time as possible for the citizens."

"What the hell? Now you're telling me how to run my village? Just who the hell do you think you are?" Tsunade was getting pissed. _This guy shows up and thinks he can order me around!? What the hell?_

"Hokage-sama! The bottom portion of the mountain just collapsed! There seems to be things moving out of it!" A jounin reported to Tsunade.

"Get our shinobi down there! Protect the villagers!" Tsunade was perplexed. How did this guy know what was going to happen? _Maybe I need to listen to what he says. I can always beat the crap out of him later._ She turned to Valor "Since you seem to know what's going on, I'll trust you. However, if you hurt Konoha in any way, I will kill you myself!"

"Fine. Get all of your available shinobi down there. There are a lot of enemies down there. I will be up top trying to take out that thing. When things start to quiet down a bit, send Naruto up to the top." Valor turned to leave, but was stopped by Tsunade's voice.

"What are we dealing with? Who is the enemy?"

"Demons." With that, Valor shimmered in the air and vanished.

**With Sakura**

"What the heck?" Sakura ran down the streets of Konoha, looking at the hokage mountain and trying to stand as the earthquakes ravaged the village. "Is this why he ran out like that?"

**Flashback**

"You and him are linked…" Valor said.

"Linked? What do you mean 'linked'?" Sakura was not making the connection that he was trying to point out.

"Exactly what I said. You and him are linked, but it isn't just any kind of link, this one is very special. Before I explain any further, tell me, do you have conversations with yourself?"

"What? What kind of question is that?"

"The kind that needs answering before I can explain further. Now, tell me, do you have conversations with yourself?"

"Well, kinda. I suppose so. Why?"

"How do you currently feel about Naruto?"

"What!? What do you mean? Naruto is my teammate! He's my friend!"

"Really? Seems to me that your feelings toward him have escalated since you brought him back from his last fight."

"Well…er…Hey! You said that you would answer my questions after I told you if I talked to myself! Spill!"

"Alright, well you see-" Valor was cut off by an explosion. "Oh no! Tell me that just didn't happen!" Valor rushed to the window to see the hokage mountain in shambles with smoke billowing out the top. "Crap! I didn't think he would be here!" He turned to Sakura. "You need to get to the hokage immediately. Your village needs you." And with that, he jumped out the window and was gone.

**End Flashback**

"Nevermind. I have to get to the-" _Oh God! Naruto is in trouble! He is really angry and scared._ Running as fast as she could, she got to the bottom of the mountain in no time, only to see the horrendous sight in front of her. Shinobi were battling all kinds of creatures. Some were snake-like with human top halves and serpent lower. Others were mixed breeds of humans and other animals. They were all hideous. She quickly scanned the area for Naruto, only to see him hit a ox/human thing in the chest with a rasengan. She started to run over there to help him when she saw the thing get back up with half of its chest gone! Oh no! Naruto had his back turned to the creature when it got up.

Sakura plucked a kunai from her pouch and threw it with enhanced strength. It caught the creature in the forehead and knocked it back a couple of feet. She ran to Naruto and turned her back to his. "What the heck is going on, Naruto?" Sakura punched another squid/human in the… the… head? Maybe? It was so hard to tell. They didn't seem to have any vital areas.

"The heck if I know! These things popped up and we started fighting them. We have to buy time for the civilians to evacuate before we can give ground." _Dang it! I was hoping Sakura would be at the hospital instead of here! I have to make sure that she doesn't get hurt!_ Panting, Naruto flung himself at the nearest creature with renewed determination. Now he had a better reason to fight! "Mass shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he created well over a thousand of himself to help the others. He secretly kept 7 near Sakura just in case. "Let's get wild!"

Naruto turned just in time to see a werewolf (for lack of a better description) jump over him and head directly for Sakura. Immediately, his seven clones tackled and beat the living snot out of the creature. _Good job guys, keep up the good work!_ Naruto looked back at Sakura to see her taking on a boar/human and beating it into submission too. _Good, she can hold her own. I wonder how Valor is doing?_ With that, he looked up to see the red swirling ball of chakra gone and a huge black horse with flames coming out of its nostrils and bat wings coming out of its back. Atop the horse sat a giant knight. He was clad in red and black armor with a demonic looking lance in his right hand. _At least he is staying still. Maybe Valor is talking to him. _Naruto was brought out of his thoughts by a spider/human who was quickly eradicating the clones around him.

Naruto took out a few kunai and ran at the spider/human. It had the lower body of a human, but the head was that of a spiders and it had eight legs coming out of it. With it also being pitch black in color, it was hard to spot in the night. The only ways to identify it were the eyes it had and the red hourglass shape pattern on top of it's head. Jumping in the air, Naruto came down to stab it in the head. But the spider hit him in midair with one of its legs and jumped up to meet him in the air. Naruto made a shadow clone and threw it up in the air to force himself back to the ground. He then slashed at one of the legs of the spider/man and lopped off a good two feet. The spider/man howled out in pain and dropped to its human legs. It spun around really fast and all of its spider legs flew out at the momentum to hit everything within its range. Naruto was knocked back into another creature that resembled a minotaur. It wrapped him up in its massive arms and held him there for the spider to kill. However, the clone that Naruto threw up in the air finally came down on top of the spider and stabbed it in the head. The spider just flinched and bit the clone in the leg, who poofed out of existence the moment the fangs bit him.

Naruto struggled with the massive minotaur, but to no avail. The spider was coming quickly and he could hear the fangs clacking excitedly. _Crap! Now what?_ As the spider was almost upon him, his friend Rock Lee burst in and put his fist through the spider's head. Following Lee was Neji, who used his gentle fist to strike the nerves in the Minotaur's arms. It let go and Naruto went to hit him in the face, only to be stopped short by a bunch of kunai and shuriken sprouting up from the Minotaur's face.

"Thanks guys! I would have been toast if you hadn't shown up!" Naruto ran over next to Tenten to hit another creature in the face.

"The fire of your youth burned too brightly for it to be snuffed out by these monsters! Together, we will burn them all in our mighty fire of youth! Yosh!" Lee said enthusiastically. Neji had a pained face. _Yeah, I guess I would be annoyed too if I had to put up with that 24/7._

"Thanks, Naruto. Now we are even!" Tenten pulled out her scroll of weapons and unleashed a swarm of deadly, sharp and pointy objects at the oncoming horde of creatures. "No matter how many times I hit them with stuff, they just won't die!"

"Yeah, I noticed that too! Neji, did you figure anything out?" Naruto kicked the spider off into the minotaur, who was starting to stand up.

"No, I can't see them with my Byakugan! It's like they are not there! I know they are not a genjutsu, but I can't see them! It is slightly disturbing."

Naruto looked around to see a bunch of creatures fly up in the air and ripped to shreds by two tornados. "Looks like Kiba and Akamaru are having fun!" He looked slightly to the right and saw a bunch of bugs eating the creatures. "And I think Shino has found a way to kill them…"

Lee looked around and saw Kakashi and Gai running up the streets to enter the fray. "It looks like the civilians are safely evacuated! Look!" He pointed at their sensei. Sure enough, Gai was fighting like a beast, kicking and punching at all angles. "34, 35, 36, 37!" Gai was counting after each creature hit the ground.

"Gai, these things don't die, so you still have zero!" Kakashi said, somewhat frustrated. "Chidori!" Kakashi mowed down enemy after enemy with his fist.

Kakashi made his way to Naruto and said "Pull back, the civilians are safe, and we don't know if the mountain will continue to stand. With all this fighting, it could come down at any moment! Tsunade is at the hospital treating shinobi! Tell Sakura to meet her there!" and with that, he was off delivering his message to the other groups.

"Alright, guys. You go on ahead and I'll catch up after I tell Sakura-chan!" Naruto said and sprinted off to his pink haired comrade. She was in the middle of a bunch of creatures. Out of his 7 clones sent to watch after her, only 3 remained. They were pressing around her from all sides. _Crap, how could I let her get in this situation? Don't worry, I am coming Sakura-chan!_ Naruto Jumped up in the air and jumped on top of every creature's head he could get to while heading towards Sakura. Then, he saw it.

A hideous creature that looked like a cross between a komodo dragon and a human snuck up behind Sakura and took out his 3 remaining clones. Sakura was busy with a bird/human creature and didn't notice it yet. Then it was too late. The creature came up behind her and ran its tail through her stomach, fatally wounding her. _NOOOOOOO!!!!!!_

Naruto exploded.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 5: Realization**

Valor was pissed. After hours of planning to bring the boy into the situation slowly, one overeager demon ruined everything he worked for. Now, all Valor could do was run damage control and protect the boy at all costs. There wouldn't be another like him. This was his only chance to put everything back to the way it was supposed to be. Dammit! Why now!?

Valor looked at the large demon in front of him and studied him critically. He was big for a demon, sitting atop his demonic horse he was a good 20ft tall. The peculiar thing about this one, however, was the weapon it wielded. It had a lance with two ends on it. Both looked particularly nasty and sharp. The fact that this demon was decked out in full body armor like a knight of the round table didn't help Valor's chances of winning. The only thing that kept the demon at bay was the pure surprise and shock of seeing him there in front of him.

"What brings the Grim family traitor to the living world, I wonder?" The demon questioned.

"Well, you know, things are a bit warmer up here. So, I decided to take a short vacation." Valor replied sarcastically. "Imagine my surprise when I found you, Zaelkor, commander of demons, hiding in his little rock, frightened by humans. But, then again, you always were a coward who lets his demons die before he goes into battle." Valor's taunting had the desired effect as Zaelkor immediately went into a rage.

"Words of cowardice that come from one such as you mean nothing to me! You will pay for your insolence!" Zaelkor was practically foaming at the helmet.

_Good, just one more push._ "What are you going to do? Kill me? For some reason, I don't think that will work. Next time, come up with a more convincing threat." Valor taunted while playfully leaning back on his heels and putting his hands in his pockets.

"I will crush you and confine you in a prison here on this world! Savor the last moments of your freedom!" with that, Zaelkor lowered his lance and began to charge at Valor.

_Ok, Valor. You ticked him off to keep his attention focused on you. Now what?_ As if an answer to a prayer, a loud and earth rending explosion rocked the mountain and started to bring the house down. _Well, that's my cue!_ Valor seemed to jump off the rapidly descending mountain and disappear in a cloud of black smoke. (kinda like nightcrawler off of X-Men 2)

**Somewhere in Naruto's mindscape**

"uugghh. My head." Sakura started to push herself up off the wet floor and caress her pounding head. After holding her throbbing skull, she looked around her and took in the sights. Everything was dark and wet around her. The only source of light came from a crack in a door about thirty yards to her left. "What the!? Where am I?" Sakura gets up and orients herself to the door to her right. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Suddenly, just as if someone punched her in the gut, Sakura bent over and held her stomach.

_Naruto!!! What's wrong? He's so angry it burns! AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!_ Sakura clutched her stomach until the pain passed and she was able to move again. _That was way more intense than usual. What is going on?_ Sakura turned to the door only to see herself there.

"Huh? Who are you? And why do you look like me?" Sakura stood up straight and asked, searching for the telltale signs of a genjutsu. The weird thing was that it wasn't a genjutsu and it was starting to freak her out.

"Well, I will give you three guesses and the first two don't count." Her inner self sarcastically remarked. "Come on. There is something I want you to see." With that, she walked into the door and disappeared behind it.

Never one to just sit around, Sakura decided that it might be in her best interest to do as she was told… for the time being at least. Sakura got up and walked over to the door and opened it up fully. In it was a wall that apparently also functioned as a television. Blurry images of red and black flashed across the screen and then fell silent. She noticed that there was a chair in the middle of the room and her inner self was sitting in it.

"Glad you finally decided to show up. Come on over here." She held out her hand and another chair appeared out of nowhere. "We have a lot to talk about."

Sakura looked at her inner self and sat down next to her in the seat. "How the? What the? Where the?" She didn't know where to start.

"Hold it. I'll explain, you listen." Her inner self pointed at her and then turned her chair to face her. "Let me start at the beginning. Do you value Naruto's life?"

_This is starting to get freaky; my inner self is never this serious…_ "Of course I do, he is my teammate! I became a medic ninja just so I could heal him and Sasuke. How could you ask that? You should know!"

"Good, I just wanted you to hear yourself say it. You are no doubt devout in your loyalty to your friends, but to what lengths would you go to make sure they lived?"

"I would fight with them and die for them. They are my teammates and best friends! Of course I would do anything for them! Why are you asking me these obvious questions?"

"Again, I wanted you to hear yourself saying it. Now, remember when Naruto basically died before he got to the hospital? Ever wonder how he was able to come back to life? There were certain things that I had to do to make sure he lived."

"What do you mean? How where you responsible for Naruto's life?"

"I made a deal with the Kyuubi to keep Naruto from dying."

"YOU WHAT!? Don't you know that he is a DEMON??? You don't make deals with a demon!! What is wrong with you?" Sakura was starting to panic. What did he ask for? Her first born child? Shortening of her life?

"Snap out of it!!! Listen to me! Did you want Naruto to die? No, I didn't think so. Now listen carefully, in order to save Naruto's life, I had the Kyuubi link him to us."

"Link him to us? What do you mean?" Sakura was starting to get a sense of Dejavu. Didn't that Valor guy say something about this?

"Yes, you see, Naruto was about to die… permanently, but I saw a way to save him, so I took it. In order for him to survive, I had to link his soul to ours…"

Sakura went numb for a minute. Her entire thought process was halted and her emotions were in total shock.

"Yoo-hoo! Sakura! Hello? Sakura?" her inner self waved her hand in front of Sakura's face and looked at her a with curiosity.

"YOU DID WHAT!?!?!? HOW COULD YOU?? NOW I AM STUCK WITH NARUTO FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY?"

"Sakura, calm down, it's not like that."

"CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN???? I AM CALM!!!"

"Did you want him to die? I didn't really have a choice! Listen, let me explain everything, then you can yell at yourself all you want. Ok?"

Sakura looked at her inner self and gave her a look that would make even Orochimaru cower in fear."Talk."

**Back with Valor**

Valor appeared in a cloud of black smoke mere moments after he had left the falling mountain. Upon entering the once demon infested battlefield, Valor cringed at the sight that he now witnessed. There, in the middle of what used to be a bloodbath, stood a raging Naruto. Red chakra with a tinge of black around the edges flamed around the enraged boy. It superheated the ground he was on and the ground was turned into glass where he stood. Where demons and monsters once dominated the shinobi earlier now lay the mutilated bodies of the hellish creatures.

Valor backpedaled and stood a good distance away from the boy. Upon closer inspection, he looked like he was holding something. Valor focused more on the boy only to realize that he was holding the body of the girl he talked to earlier. He was crying into her hair and yelling at the sky. _This isn't good. _Valor gazed at the ground and saw the bodies of demons and shinobi littering the floor, soaking the ground in blood._ Those are underworld beasts; they will not stay down so easily._

As if summoned by his words, the beasts stirred and arose. They gathered their mutilated body parts and stood up. Naruto didn't seem to notice them as he was busy grieving. The underworld creatures slowly began to advance on him while reattaching their limbs. When they got within ten feet of the boy, they seemed to be ripped to shreds by his chakra alone. _Well, I predicted as much. But they won't stay down. His chakra is still tainted by the underworld, it is slowly reviving them and he can't keep that up forever._

Valor got up and moved slowly over to Naruto, but stopped outside the ten foot barrier that seemed to keep everyone at bay. "Naruto, calm down. Everything is not what it seems." Valor started to say, but was blown back several yards and crashed into a pile of dismembered limbs by Naruto's growl alone. "Ok, I can see you are upset…" Valor got up and brushed himself off.

"Now, let's try this again." Valor muttered under his breath. Valor walked up to the same distance as before and stopped again, this time he was directly in front of the berserk jinchuuriki. "If you want to save Sakura, then pull yourself together and help me." Valor stated, a little irritated.

With hearing Sakura's name and the word "save" in the same sentence, Naruto looked directly at Valor. "**What do you mean save? She's dead!"** Naruto's voice was infused with the Kyuubi's and he was getting angry again, fast.

"Need I remind you who I am? I am giving you a choice, now you either snap out of it, or she really will die!" Valor was getting through to the boy; he just needed to be a little more assertive is all.

Naruto slowly lowered Sakura's body to the ground and just looked at Valor expectantly. **"What can I do to save her?"** Just as Valor was going to answer, the mountain of rubble exploded behind him.

"GRIM!! Where are you?" Zaelkor burst from the rubble and scanned the battlefield to find his enemy. Upon seeing him next to some boy, he started to advance. "You call me a coward and yet you run away!"

Naruto took the hint from Valor's stance and turned to face the new threat. The knight that sat atop the unholy steed started to charge once again, picking up speed as he came. He lowered his lance and prepared to run it through Valor when the boy jumped in front of him. The jinchuuriki braced himself for an impact and waited for the lance to arrive.

"Ha! I'll kill you both at once!" Zaelkor shouted and thrust his lance toward the boy and his most hated enemy.

Naruto was fully aware of what was going on and was ready for what would happen next. As soon as that lance was within arm's reach, Naruto grabbed hold of the lance and lifted the knight off his horse, over Naruto's head and onto the ground behind him. Then, in quick succession, Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra and ran his entire hand through the skull of the horse as it continued toward him without its master. With a feral snarl and a yank from Naruto's hand, the horse fell to the ground, dead.

To say that he was surprised was an understatement. Valor was dumbfounded by the ingenuity of Naruto. With that one move, he separated Zaelkor's only advantage over them and gave him a headache to boot. _Maybe I should sit this one out and see where his talents lie? No. I can't. If I let him fight this creature alone, many innocent souls will get involved. Seeing as how much energy the boy released, I should have about five minutes to settle this before things get out of hand and another legion of demons get coughed up from the underworld. Damn! I wanted to keep this from the boy, but I guess it couldn't have been avoided…_

With Naruto still staring daggers at the demon, and Zaelkor getting back up on his feet, Valor placed his right hand on the hilt of the katana on his left hip. _**"Initiating**__ c__**oncordance three of the life spark containment contract. Temporary release of power until target is destroyed."**_ Valor's voice was clouded with an eerie echo that chilled bones. A faint click was heard before Valor slowly drew the katana and screams pierced the night as dead souls howled with its coming. The earth started to rumble and shake with a vengeance, black mist poured forth from the sheath and from Valor's boots as he finished drawing the blade. Soon, the black mist covered the entire ground and no one could see their own feet. The blade that Valor held was illuminated by the moonlight as it seemed to be almost ethereal in nature. The transparency of the blade showed many faces, all of them screaming in agony while wilting away with the rapid passage of time.

"_**Now, let us finish this…"**_ then Valor disappeared into the rapidly growing black mist. The rumbling stopped, but the screams had just begun…

**Back with Sakura**

"Hold up. So you are saying that I am in Naruto's head? Am I stuck here or something?" Sakura asked her inner self. Ever since she started explaining about how certain things are going to happen because of the link, Sakura had started to worry that she would be stuck with Naruto for the rest of her life.

"Yes, you are in his head and, no, you are not stuck here. When Tsunade-sama heals your body, then we can go back. Until then, yes you are stuck inside Naruto's head! Now, listen to me. There are certain side effects to having your soul linked to someone else's. I don't know all of them because this is the first time it has ever been done. However, due to certain changes, I can only tell you what is happening so far. First, both of you are able to read each other's moods pretty easily. Now, I cut us a break on this one because I made sure that only the Kyuubi could read ours until later. He is supposed to keep everything a secret until we tell Naruto. Second, it seems that when one of you dies, you temporarily share the same body until your original body is healed back to fighting strength. However, the longer you stay inside the other person, the harder it is to heal your body. I don't know how long you can stay in one another's body, but I wouldn't chance it to find out just yet. And lastly, I've been toying around with the idea of helping each other learn the other one's jutsu. I haven't exactly had time to test it yet, but I will eventually. If we want to know more, then I suggest we talk to that Valor guy. He seems to know about this kinda thing. Now, are we clear?" Inner Sakura took a deep breath and looked at Sakura expectantly.

So much was happening so fast, Sakura felt like her head was gonna spin off! "Yeah, I think I got you. It's just a lot to take in all in one go. Just one question for now, why are we sitting in this room with a big TV for a wall? And why did you turn it off?" Sakura was wondering that all the time she was in here.

"Well, I figured that in order for you to completely understand, I should bring you into the visual part of Naruto's mind. The TV shows what is going on with Naruto. It's kinda like watching the world through his eyes. Wanna watch?" Inner Sakura had a little smirk on her face, she had paused the action before it started.

"Sure. I am kinda worried about Naruto. Only as a teammate!" Sakura frowned at her inner self as she had a huge grin on her face. Her inner pointed at the wall and images of demons filled the room. Naruto was running toward her body and tearing through anything in his way. The komodo demon that killed her had just enough time to turn its head to see the hands that sunk into its chest and rip it in half. Blood was everywhere, immense amounts of chakra and heat caused the explosive kunai on the bodies of the dead shinobi to ignite, turning the battleground into a warzone. Explosions erupted all around Naruto and all he did was cover her body with his own. Then, in an immense amount of hurt and rage, he gathered a lot of chakra into his right hand, picked her body up with his left hand, and slammed every drop of chakra into the ground. The ground started to crack and break apart, red chakra spilled forth from the bowels of the earth and melted everything it touched, then the chakra took shape. Hands coming up from the earth proceeded to rip and tear everything it could get a hold of.

"Oh my God! Is this really Naruto?" Sakura sat, horrified at the images of thousands of demons being ripped to shreds by Naruto. "I didn't think he had this much power! Oh no! He's starting to turn into the Kyuubi!" realization dawned on Sakura and she began to panic. _If he uses the Kyuubi's power, he could turn on the village! I gotta help him!_

"Hold it! Look now." Her inner self pointed again and the scene changed into the "conflict" with Valor earlier. She watched Valor get flung away by a mere growl from Naruto and was starting to catch on.

"You mean that guy can snap Naruto out of Kyuubi mode?" Sakura blurted out. _I don't believe it! I just thought he was some creepy guy that knew a lot._

"You haven't seen anything yet! Watch Naruto here!" Inner Sakura pointed again and the scene changed to the current fight. Naruto just flung the big demon over his head and killed the horse. "Ha! Gotta love it! That is awesome!" Inner Sakura started yelling and cheering.

_Well, at least she is returning to normal again. I just can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Something isn't right._ Sakura looked at the screen and saw Valor release his katana. _I don't like that guy. He gives me the creeps._

**Back with Naruto**

Ever since he became a ninja, Naruto has had trouble keeping his emotions under control while on the battlefield. This latest incident just proved that. Now, for most ninja, to display emotion on the battlefield led to the death of themselves or their teammates. That concept struck a vital cord in Naruto as he unwillingly played the scene of Sakura's death over and over again.

_Maybe if I had left more clones. Maybe if I'd been a little faster. Maybe if I was stronger. Sakura would be alive._ Those thoughts raced through Naruto's head as he stared down the monster responsible for all of this. He didn't care about his "ally" anymore. This beast's head was his. The rage that burned through his veins seared all thought of self-preservation and focused his entire thought process on revenge.

"**I'll kill you!!!!"** Naruto roared at the demonic knight. With that, he was off. The demon barely had time to react as Naruto came in hard and fast. Naruto's fist was headed right for his helmet, so the unholy knight ducked down low and swung his lance from his right side toward Naruto's exposed side. Just as the lance made connection, a bone-shattering blow landed across the hand that wielded the lance.

With black mist emulating from the blade, Valor had hit the demon's hand with the hilt of the blade he wielded, causing the metal encasing of his armor to fully pierce his hand and come out the other side. _**"Do not touch the boy."**_ And with that, he disappeared into the mist again.

Zaelkor had about enough time to hear the "do not" and then a fist collided with his skull at mach speed. Naruto had lifted himself on top of the lance using his left hand and punched his opponent in the face while kicking him in the throat shortly after, sending him back onto the ground, roughly seventy feet away. Zaelkor hit the ground in pain and shock, but quickly got up sputtering profanities at his enemies. _Damn, if I keep this up, I'll be sealed again. I won't let that happen!_

As soon as Naruto hit ground, he took off again at the demon, claws out and ready for blood. When the demon stood back up, cussing him out, Naruto increased his speed and attempted to gut the demon's throat to end it there. However, just as his claws scraped his metal armor and his hand was about to go into his jugular, the demon's armor exploded like a huge grenade. Shrapnel went everywhere and it was all Naruto could do to prevent one of the sharp pieces of metal to pierce anything vital. When Naruto hit the ground, a cold shiver ran down his spine as he suddenly remembered something, Sakura! Turning around to make sure his teammate's body didn't get mutilated by the blast, he saw Valor standing in front of the girl's body with multiple pieces of metal sticking out of him.

"_**Hahaha!! To once again be free!! The chains that once bound me are now gone!"**_ The dust settled and Naruto looked over to where the voice was coming from. There among the settling dust was a creature with the black wings of a bat, a long lizard tail, and a hulking figure that bulged with muscles. The face was very peculiar as there was no mouth, but skin covering where it should be, with the number 11 imprinted in black over it. Other than the skin that covered his mouth, there was no more on his head, it was all a skull with eyeballs in their sockets, but no skin to hold them in place. But the most disturbing thing was what was all over the creature's body. On its chest, a mouth with sharpened teeth like a carnivore opened to reveal a beating heart. On its stomach was two others and they were all up and down his arms and legs. Blood flowed, seemingly of its own accord throughout his body without the assistance of veins or arteries. His bones displayed for all to see, underneath the green saliva that dripped from the maws all over him. Then, from the giant mouth that covered his heart, Zaelkor roared,_** "Prepare yourself, boy! For tonight, you will burn in Hell!"**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 6**

Chaos and confusion. Those two words perfectly described Konoha in its current predicament. Those same two words are the most hated words in the world of ninja. The Godaime Hokage frantically ran from shinobi to shinobi, healing what she could and saving as many lives as she was able. Casualties upon casualties flooded the doors of the hospital and now the temporary hospital tents outside as well. After the hospital filled up, the tents were constructed to save lives as well. The day turned to night before the injured just seemed to stop coming. Tsunade finally had a break, but she didn't have time to relax. She quickly looked at the considerably long patient roster, not finding the people she was looking for, she silently thanked kami. _Where is Sakura? I sent a message for her hours ago._

Tsunade walked to the Anbu guards she had posted near the fortified entrance to their temporary hospitals. "You and you. Come with me." She pointed at the two of them, then started walking toward the direction of the Hokage Mountain rubble. _I just hope Sakura and Naruto are ok._

**Back with Valor**

Valor didn't like what he was looking at. Zaelkor, commander of demons, loose from his iron prison. _That should not have been possible. That armor had his aura linked to it, to suppress his true form. How did he-?!_ Valor interrupted his own thoughts with a shake of his head. _No, think of the solution, not the problem. Think. What can one enraged demon boy and a restricted shinigami do?_

Again, Valor was brought out of his reverie by Zaelkor's movement toward his fallen lance. _**"Rise once more, Kraven. It is time to whet your thirst!"**_ Zaelkor slowly grasped his lance around the center and held it in front of himself, between him and Naruto. The sharp metal surrounding the lance slowly lifted itself seemingly of its accord and unwound itself from whatever was inside the lance. Black and red energy seeped through the cracks, revealing a vicious weapon. There in Zaelkor's hand was a spear with what seemed like hundreds of revolving spikes covering its entire length. The only break in the revolving spikes was where Zaelkor held it. The revolution of the spikes seemed odd, upon further inspection, Valor observed that half of the spikes rotated clockwise, while the other half (while still intertwined with the first set of spikes) was revolving counter clockwise.

_That is going to hurt if it connects with anything._ **"Zaelkor, surely you are joking. Going all out to kill a boy? You have indeed become weak. Prove your strength and fight me! After all, I am one of the forces that sealed you here in the first place! Fight me if you dare!"** Valor spat and walked toward the demon.

When Valor started speaking, the eyes of Zaelkor followed him. His mouth over his heart grinned wickedly and green saliva started to drip from it, wetting the ground and burning through the solid rock that it fell on. **"I will have you sealed before this day is done, but I believe that this 'boy' as you call him deserves my full attention. Do not talk like you are the all powerful shinigami. You are but a shade of your former self. You do not deserve my attention." **And with that, Zaelkor disappeared from sight.

The only warning Naruto got was when a demonic aura seized him from behind. He quickly spun and barely dodged the incoming lance. Fortunately, that one move gave him the opening he needed. Acting on instinct alone, Naruto punched Zaelkor square in the face, bursting both of his eyeballs. **"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!!" **Zaelkor screamed and jumped backward. Landing a fair distance away, he started laughing. **"Hahahaha!!! You didn't actually think you could hurt me, did you? I am Zaelkor! No one can hurt me! I am the true demon lord!"** Zaelkor laughed as his eyes regenerated. He lifted his hands up towards the sky, and everything darkened and became black. **"Feel the darkness embrace your heart! Demon Sky Technique: Blood Summoning!"** And with that, Zaelkor emptied his body of all the blood that was coursing through his body. His mouths looked like they were holding back torrents of the red liquid of life. It seeped into the ground and dyed it red, lighting struck the ground, and wind came in great gusts that kicked up miniature tornados. **"Behold! With my brethren resurrected, I am invincible!"** Zaelkor yelled. And sure enough, as the lighting hit the ground, forms began to take shape. Inside the tornadoes, forms began moving as well. All the demons that were defeated earlier were back. Along with the dead shinobi that littered the battlefield, these demons rose anew, bloodlust in each eye.

"**Yeah, well ya know what?"** Naruto was running at an incredible speed towards Zaelkor, covering the distance quickly. **"I'm gonna beat the shit out of you anyway!!!" **Naruto formed a rasengan in his hand and shoved it into Zaelkor's closed mouth over his heart. Teeth cracked, chips of enamel flew in every direction, finally in a burst of pure energy, Zaelkor was sent spinning inside a massive blue ball into a rather large boulder that cracked under the pressure. His lance flew in the air and landed on one of the demons, impaling it and ripping it to shreds on the spot.

Valor surveyed the damage done to Zaelkor and figured that it wouldn't kill him, however the demons around Naruto were starting to worry him. _They are feeding off of the underworld by just being around him. I got to distance him from them._ So Valor disappeared into a black mist and reappeared next to an angry Naruto. **"I'll make sure no nuisances interfere."** And with that, he leapt at the nearest demon, and cut it in half.

Naruto totally ignored Valor and ran at the barely moving Zaelkor. When he was within striking distance, his hands came and clawed Zaelkor in half. There were four gashes carved into the poor stone that Zaelkor was lying on. The demon himself was ripped to shreds by the still enraged Naruto. Without even missing a step, Naruto turned to the rapidly disappearing demons and growled with pleasure. **"Told you that I'd beat the crap outta you!!"** Naruto started to move away from the body only to be kicked in the back by the very corpse he just shredded.

"**Don't turn your back on me, BOY!!"** Zaelkor's body regenerated itself and flexed his wings. **"You bore me. I guess I overestimated you."** With that, Zaelkor moved his right hand out and the mouth in his palm gathered chakra in a condensed state. Naruto got up and immediately recognized it. It was exactly as he did earlier to Orochimaru! With reflexes that astounded even himself, he jumped out of the way. The chakra blasted out of Zaelkor's hand and ripped through the earth as it found its new target. The newly arrived fifth hokage.

Valor saw the blast and did his best to divert it. His howling blade met the chakra blast head on like a baseball bat. With a deafening explosion, the whole world seemed to have erupted in a bright explosion of red. When Naruto got his bearings, Tsunade was lying on the ground overtop of her apprentice, and her Anbu guards were splayed out over the ground, unconscious as well. Valor didn't look too good either. One of his arms was gone and he was doing the best he could to remain standing. Naruto refocused his energies toward the culprit of the entire situation, Zaelkor. During the explosion, he had called his lance over to himself and got ready to attack. _This is it, stupid fox. Gimme some help, or die with me!_ Naruto shouted **"Shadow clone jutsu!"** three shadow clones appeared. Two stayed with the real one, while the other charged at Zaelkor. Naruto formed a rasengan in his hand and let the clones balance his chakra formation with his wind element. A piercing screech was heard as the technique finished and the real Naruto followed his other clone ahead of him.

Zaelkor wasn't stupid. He knew what was going to happen, so instead of obliging Naruto, he threw his spear at the clone and watched as it flew straight at the real Naruto with a speed too fast for him to dodge. Again, reacting on instinct, Naruto did the one thing that he could to save himself. He drilled his Rasenshuriken into the lance as it got within range.

Valor watched in awe at the events unfurling in front of him. Zaelkor had thrown his lance, intending to kill Naruto, only to be surprised as his ultimate weapon was held in place by the swirling winds of Naruto's technique. Valor knew what would happen next and used his remaining arm to shield himself from the impending explosion. In a bright green blast, the eruption came at such intensity that it forced everything within 50 meters to be thrown back at an amazing ferocity. The unconscious forms of the Konoha ninja were the only safe ones, as they were a good distance away and behind a stack of demon corpses. Valor was flung through the air and into the nearest tree.

Naruto's right arm was numb, but his left was far from useless. Just as the explosion blew his arm back, his left arm reached through the explosion and grabbed the lance. Using the explosion, Naruto landed on the side of a nearby tree and pushed off with all he was worth. The smoke was still thick in the air, and he guessed where Zaelkor was and aimed right for it. Time seemed to slow down. Heartbeats were minutes long as Naruto hoped to God that he was right. If not, well, there wasn't going to be a next time. Then, as if to make up for its momentary lapse, time sped up to catch up with itself. Naruto felt some resistance at the end of the lance he was holding. Looking up, he saw that Zaelkor was slowly being torn through by his own lance. His huge mouth did little to stop the ever revolving lance as it drilled through his teeth and red blood splattered everywhere as his rotten heart was torn apart by his own weapon. Naruto didn't even have the energy to land on his feet and instead followed the already dead demon down to the scarred earth and slipped into unconsciousness.

Valor extricated himself from the tree and limped over to the dead demon and Naruto. He took his blade and raised it above Zaelkor. "You won't be coming back." And with that, he plunged his moaning blade into Zaelkor's head, right between the two ones that were tattooed on it. Zaelkor slowly faded into nothingness as his energy was captured by the blade and transferred to Valor. His lance melted and infused itself with Naruto. Valor's right arm regenerated itself in a mist of darkness and then he sheathed his blade. "I hate running damage control."

Valor picked the unconscious Naruto up and moved him over to the crumpled heap of Konoha ninja. He rearranged them all so that they weren't all laying on top of each other and then tried to wake them up. He kicked the two Anbu in the feet until they stirred awake and then made them wake up the Hokage. He was rewarded for his intuitiveness when the poor Anbu who finally did manage to wake up the Hokage was punched into outer space by her herculean strength. "What the hell? Where am I?" She looked up and saw Valor standing there offering her a hand up. She graciously took it and then asked him, "What's going on? I got here, saw Sakura and then everything went blank. What's going on?"

Valor then proceeded to fill her in on the whole thing up until the point he woke her up. "Now, let's discuss this more in detail after we get those two some medical attention." Valor sighed as he looked at the two young ninja.

Tsunade diverted her attention to her two favorite shinobi and just about wept on the spot. "You mean get Naruto some medical attention. Sakura can't have any. Look at her!" Tsunade was silently weeping at the sight of her apprentice. There was no way she could heal her. Her heart and most of the internal organs had been pierced and were lying on the ground in the gruesome hole in her chest. There was no way she could still be alive. It was times like this that Tsunade really hated being a ninja.

"No, I meant exactly what I said. _Both_ of them." Valor explained in a calm demeanor. "If you take them both back to the hospital immediately, then I may have a way to save her. But we must move quickly. There isn't much time left." Valor looked directly at Tsunade. "Whether she lives or stays dead is your decision, but if you want her to live, then I suggest you take my words to heart."

After the poor Anbu that Tsunade had punched re-entered the atmosphere and landed in a jumbled heap next to the others, Tsunade immediately went into the role of Hokage and ordered him and his partner to pick up Naruto and Sakura and carry them to the hospital with all possible speed. After a short groan, atmosphere Anbu (new nickname!!) grabbed Naruto and sped off toward the hospital. The other was helped by Tsunade and Valor as he put Sakura and all over her organs into his arms. He then sped off to catch up with his partner. Valor and Tsunade followed shortly after in case any enemies had been overlooked.

Very shortly after their departure, they arrived at a very full hospital. Tsunade kicked a few of the less critical condition ninja out of the hospital to make room for Sakura and Naruto. "Shizune! Get in here!"She yelled and placed Sakura and Naruto on a couple of stretchers. Valor followed close behind them. IVs and machines were quickly hooked up to Naruto while Sakura was left almost completely alone. After Tsunade said that Naruto was stable, she went over to stand next to Valor, who hadn't moved from Sakura's side the entire time.

"Alright, Naruto should make it, what have you got in mind for her? I am warning you! I know more medical knowledge than anyone else alive, and I still don't see how you are going to do it! You can't bring back the dead…"Tsunade was close to yelling in the beginning and then solemnly quiet towards the end. "I swear, if you are playing around with me, you will pay with your life and so much more!" Wrath was emanating from Tsunade as she looked at the blindfolded man standing in stark contrast with the white room around him.

"I need you to evacuate the room. You stay." Valor didn't even look at her. He was too intently focused on Sakura. Tsunade did as Valor asked. "I need you to heal her body just as if she was alive." Valor stated.

"I can't. I need at least some of her chakra to work with. If I try to heal her with just my chakra, then her cells will reject my treatment and deteriorate." Tsunade was getting angry.

"Calm down, I can get you that spark of chakra, but only for a moment. It will take your expert healing arts in order to heal her. What I'm about to do is extremely dangerous and cannot leave this room. If I do this, you must swear an oath to never reveal what I do in here." Valor turned his attention to Tsunade and waited for her oath.

"I swear. Now then, let's see this 'almighty technique'." Tsunade was obviously not very enthused about the entire ordeal.

Valor nodded his head and grabbed Naruto's hand and then he grabbed Sakura's _I hope that they are smart enough to get the hint._ And with that thought, he put the hands on top of one another and removed his blindfold.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 7**

Sakura had a lot to think about. For the past hour, she had been sifting through Naruto's memories. It would have went along smoothly and quickly if it weren't for her inner self hooting and hollering every time Naruto did something cool or if he was in danger. Anyway, Sakura had always been a quick thinker, and figured out after her short talk with her inner self that she couldn't really do anything to help Naruto right now, so why not find out what makes his mind tick? She had always wondered how he always kept a smile on his face 24/7. So she delved into his past and memories. Was standing in front of a giant filing cabinet with all of Naruto's memories in it. She opened the middle drawer and flipped through the _orange_ folders in it. Finding one labeled 7th birthday, she opened it. Oh, how she regretted that.

**Flashback**

Sakura opened her eyes and looked around. She saw Konoha like it was 9 years ago. Tsunade's face wasn't on the mountain yet, the village hadn't been attacked by Orochimaru yet, and the streets were filled with hundreds of people. It looked like late afternoon, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Judging by her surroundings, she was somewhere close to the academy. Suddenly, she was forced to look to her right. A crowd of people with pitchforks, kunai, and other various sharp objects were making their way towards her from down the street. A feeling of fear overwhelmed her as her legs began to move. She was running, running away from those people. Wait! She was running? Looking at her arms as they pumped forward and backward while she ran, she realized that she was wearing an orange jacket! Oh no! She was Naruto! She was inside his head! It was like she was watching things through his eyes. The landscape sped by in a blur as Naruto gave it all he had to outrun the angry mob. Naruto turned a corner and jumped into an alley, only to find it to be a dead end. Turning around swiftly, she saw that the angry mob had caught up and had him trapped in the alley. A voice cried pleadingly, "Please let me go! I didn't do anything! It's my birthday!" Hey vision got all blurry and a hand went and wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes.

"Your birthday? How many of our sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers will never have another birthday because of you! You killed them! You monster!" and with that, the tall man with a pitchfork ran at Naruto and readied to spear him on the spot. Naruto jumped back and put his arms up in front of his face. Suddenly, a searing pain went through his left leg. The pitchfork had stabbed him in the leg! "AAAAAAHHHHH!!" Naruto screamed in pain and fell down.

"Die, demon!!" said the man with the pitchfork, and then the rest of them mob came to join in on the 'fun'. The only thing that saved Naruto was the sudden appearance of an Anbu ninja. Naruto's vision was starting to get blurry. All the running and blood loss was starting to take its toll on him. Before the Anbu could say anything, Naruto blacked out.

**Flashback ends**

She exited the memory crying over what she had just experienced. She had no idea that life was so rough for the poor guy. And yet, he STILL smiled. So she dug a little deeper into his mind in order to find out what made him happy. If she was crying about all the bad experiences he had during childhood, she was bawling by the time she found out what made Naruto a happy person. She moved over to a significantly smaller filing cabinet labeled "cherished memories" and opened up the top drawer. Instead of immersing herself in the memory like she had the other, she quickly scanned these memories and found that almost all of his cherished memories involved her. Whether she was beating him to a pulp or just spending time with him. He truly cherished all the times she was with him. Talk about making her feel like crap! She had been ignoring him, beating him, and insulting him for as long as she can remember! She had saw a good portion of his mind and found that he had experienced far more pain than anyone had ever had a right to experience, and yet due largely to her, he was able to smile and continue on. She didn't have time to think on if very long, though.

Her inner self started yelling at her to come over there and hurry. She didn't know what was going on, but she did as she was told. "What?" Sakura looked at her inner self, then at the big screen on the wall. The world went black and Naruto didn't see anything anymore.

Her inner self was screaming, yelling, and jumping up and down like a school girl. "Naruto is coming! Naruto is coming! NARUTO IS COMING!!!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and ran out the door that lead to where she first woke up in Naruto's mind.

*sigh* "If that is my inner self, I need therapy." Sakura walked through the door and towards her inner self, who was currently on the floor sobbing uncontrollably. _Yep. Therapy._ "What is it this time?" Sakura inquired to her inner self in a bored manner. She was getting annoyed at herself, talk about strange.

*sniff* "It's Naruto. He won't wake up…*sniff* and I don't know how to wake him up." Inner Sakura was sitting on her knees next to an unconscious Naruto lying on the floor. He looked like he had been through hell and back. He had numerous cuts and bruises all over his body, his clothes were in shambles, with rips and tears scattered about his orange and black jacket. His shirt was soaked with blood and his arms were smoldering.

Sakura went into overdrive with her emotions. She couldn't concentrate. She just stood there and stared at him for the longest. Her emotions preventing her from approaching him or running away. Her mind was a wreck. She didn't have time before to sift through her emotions and settle her already filled mind, and with the appearance of the one person all her thoughts were directed towards appearing so suddenly, she froze.

Maybe lady luck favored her, or maybe she did something good at one point or another and karma decided to repay her, but whatever the reason, she again didn't have time to mull over the different emotions running through her head. Her inner self stood up and shook her to get her attention. "It looks like it's time for us to leave." Sakura was confused.

"What do you mean, 'time for us to leave'. We can leave?" Sakura thought that this whole thing was permanent. "You mean I'm not stuck inside Naruto for the rest of eternity? I thought you said that I was!" Sakura was getting angry. "And were the hell are we going anyway?"

"I'll explain later. We got one shot, we better make it count." Her inner self proclaimed. She hugged Sakura and whispered. _If you want to get back to our body in one piece, let me take over for a sec. I know what to do, you don't._ A door opened in her mind and everything went blank.

**With Valor**

Tsunade was leaning over Sakura. She had been instructed not to look at Valor until she was finished healing Sakura. She was trying! God she was TRYING! She just wasn't getting anything to work with. She hoped that whatever Valor was going to do, he was going to do it soon.

Behind her, Valor was looking down, without the hindrance of his blindfold. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. If only they knew how true that was. Valor beckoned the souls to be released from their fleshy prisons. Wisps of an ethereal arm began to form outside of Naruto's arm. Valor looked directly at it and watched as it slowly began to rise and flow towards his eyes. Then, just as it was just about to reach his pupils, he immediately pulled Sakura's arm in front of his eyes and closed them. The souls that shared Naruto's body now had a direct link to Sakura's body. "There. That should do it." Valor said and pulled his blindfold back down.

Sure enough, just before he spoke, Tsunade felt a little of Sakura's chakra spark into her. When Valor spoke, she was already midway of repairing all the damage done to Sakura. She wasn't lying when she said that she knew medical knowledge better than anyone alive. Within the span of an hour, Tsunade had repaired all the damage that Sakura had taken and was awaiting for her to come alive, breathe, or anything. "I thought you said you could bring her back! She's still dead! The only thing that I did was repair her body, but she still isn't alive!" Tsunade was getting hysterical.

"Calm down. The hard part is over, now we have to do the final procedure. However, this next part has to be done willingly. Naruto has to be awake in order for it to work." Valor was still holding the two hands together, but he was starting to shake a little. "And it has to be soon. Can you wake him up? I can't right now." Valor was starting to sweat.

Tsunade ran over to Naruto without wasting any time and punched him on top of the head. "WAKE UP!! RAMEN SALE!!" With those simple words, Naruto immediately sat up in bed and looked around for his ramen.

"What the? Where's my ramen?" Naruto was confused. Then he saw Tsunade, Valor, and finally, Sakura. His face paled. "What's going on?"

"Naruto. Remember…remember how I said that you could still save Sakura?" Valor was trembling as he spoke. "Well, here is your chance. If you don't do exactly as I say, and quickly, Sakura will die. Do you understand?" Valor wasn't even looking at Naruto.

"Yes. What do I have to do to save her?" Naruto was as serious as he could be.

"I need you to Kiss Sakura on the lips." Valor gritted his teeth. "Do it now, or she dies!" Valor's voice was strained.

Naruto didn't have time for a second thought. In a swift movement, he jumped next to Valor, his hand still on top of Sakura's and kissed her on the lips. All the warmth of his body seemed to drain from him. All his energy, all his stamina, everything. However, just before he thought he would black out, Sakura's eyes opened and she tried to take a breath. And that's when he started having second thoughts. _OH NO!_ Dread filled Naruto as he finally realized what he had just done. _I am so dead!_

Naruto backed away and tried to untangle himself from what he was sure would be an enraged Sakura. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky. He couldn't even move away from her! He didn't have the strength! So, there he was, kissing Sakura on the lips, laying partially on her body because his legs wouldn't support him anymore, and their hands still held together by a very tired Valor.

Everything seemed to happen all at once. Sakura tried to yell at him, clench her hand and bash him into next year. But, she found that she couldn't. She was too weak. She couldn't do anything but lay there and kiss Naruto. Not that she wanted to! Never! This was disgusting! This was vile! This was… this was… The more she kissed Naruto, the more her strength came back. The longer she kissed Naruto, the feeling of anger seemed to just slip away into bliss. And the more she thought about it, the more she liked it.

Until she realized that the one responsible for thinking that was her inner self. Right before she was about to finally renew her efforts of tearing Naruto a new one, he collapsed into unconsciousness on top of her. _What the?_ Was her final thoughts before she joined him soon after.

Tsunade looked at Sakura and Naruto for a minute while they kissed and when she went to finally stop them, Valor held up a hand telling her to stop. So she waited silently until she saw both of them pass out. She turned to Valor and he nodded his head. She took Naruto and moved him to his bed and then went to check on Sakura. Her vitals were fine. It was a miracle!

"How? What did you? I don't understand." Tsunade looked at Valor who was slumped on a chair, still holding the hands of Naruto and Sakura.

"I promise to tell you everything, but for now, I only ask one favor. Make sure that these hands do not separate for at least another hour. After that, they should stay together on their own until it is time for them to let go. Promise me this, and I will tell you all you wish to know." Valor barely choked out.

Tsunade felt sorry for the man. Whatever he did, it took a lot out of him, and even though he seemed to be on the verge of collapse, he still sat there, not daring to let the hands separate. "I'll do it personally." And with that, she took the hands out of his and held them together.

Valor nodded his head and said, "I will be back, so until then, I ask that you please be patient. All questions will be answered soon enough." Valor wheezed out and then began to fade away in a black mist that suddenly surrounded him.

So Tsunade sat there, staring at the hands she was holding. She was left there with her thoughts for an hour, holding the hands of her two most precious people in her life. Silently, she whispered to no one in particular, "Thank you."


End file.
